Categories: Car News

I'm a die-hard paper man—in most senses of the term—and as such I would rather get covered in toxic inks and be buried beneath tons of dried tree pulp than stare into this soulless flickering picture-box and “Face” or “Twit.”

So imagine my surprise when I discovered—admittedly via an online press release—that you are happy as all get-out with yourselves and your spiffy new “Dynamic Brochures” despite the fact that all you still have no way to even approximate the paper brochure “experience” electronically!

Last week General Motors announced a five week production cease and desist order on the Chevy Volt, informing 1,300 workers that production would resume April 23rd. Back in January the Volt managed a meager 603 sales which was possibly linked to rough media attention and the vehicle’s federal safety investigation. But the five month sales slump was quickly forgotten in February as Chevy managed to sell 1,023 units.

Even with redoubled efforts and recent sales pseudo-success, the good General still has 6,300 Volts sitting in inventory – a fact which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Last year company executives forecasted the sale of 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012 – numbers which have been recently dropped from consideration. Now we’re stuck with at least 154 days of inventory.

That is, assuming Volt sales can climb or remain at the February level. But, in an incredible twist of fate, the Volt has yet another major sales hurdle: California.

“In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, CNN has irresponsibly aired a grossly inaccurate segment on Anderson Cooper 360 that attempts to resurrect the discredited, scientifically unproven allegation that there is a hidden defect in Toyota’s electronic throttle control system that can cause unintended acceleration.”

It's no secret that Bentley is building an SUV. While production plans are not 100 percent yet, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer has been doing some talking about the model's potential future.

Durheimer told Automotive News Europe that Bentley and parent company Volkswagen should make a decision on the SUV by the end of the year, with production to start within three years. If it gets the green light, he projects between 3,500 and 5,000 annual sales, a sizeable boost when you consider that Bentley sold about 7,000 Mulsanne and Continental models last year. Durheimer qualified the estimate as conservative.

Henrik Fisker is one of the best car designers of modern times, a fact exemplified by designs like the BMW Z8, the Artega GT and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. We've developed a growing suspicion that while his pencil skills are near-unmatched, his nuts and bolts management skills leave a lot to be desired. Under his watch, Fisker Automotive has experienced nothing but road bumps and obstacles, most recently losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. Alas, Fisker has stepped aside to make room for someone with a better history of company operations.

Carbon fiber has long been an expensive, high-tech material most at home in expensive, high-tech devices like space shuttles, F1 race cars and $10,000 bikes. It's certainly no stranger to the automotive world, but it usually socializes in the highest echelons only.

The tides are slowly turning for carbon fiber, though. Last year, GM announced a partnership aimed at integrating carbon fiber into mainstream vehicle production. Across the Atlantic, BMW is planning a similar move, though, of course, its vehicles are a step above mainstream.

Nissan recently announced the introduction of a next-gen efficient engineering project, aptly named the Common Module Family (CMF). For decades automakers have struggled with keeping production costs low, often by sharing the infrastructure or gadgetry from other makes or models. While platform and part sharing sounds great on its face, consumers often demand distinctive vehicle characteristics, constantly improved fuel economy, and cutting edge safety or technology features – which makes engineering efficiency a huge obstacle for any automaker.

But not anymore. Nissan intends to implement a four module system which allows for a wide spectrum of vehicle design concepts. From compact to large-scale SUVs, the CMF program will mix and match standard modules from the engine compartment, cockpit, front underbody, and rear underbody.

It looks like we officially have a thing. And not a good thing. The Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet appears to have opened a door, a door that leads to a dark, fearsome place. Land Rover is launching a convertible concept based on its Evoque small crossover. It doesn't look to be guaranteed production just yet, but the automaker is clearly considering it.

The Evoque Convertible Concept will debut at the Geneva Motor Show where Land Rover will gauge public opinion. If that opinion proves positive, it will consider building the model.

Maybe we shouldn't play favorites, but Geneva is easily our favorite auto show of the year. Not only is it a big auto show for the big names we're familiar with - especially the European ones - it's a good place to familiarize ourselves with European automakers that we really don't see for the rest of the year. German company Artega Automobil GmbH is one of those European companies. It will add a roadster version of its GT coupe in Geneva.

The Artega GT is a slightly pudgy, little coupe with a rather distinctive, wavy front-end and a fast, curvy profiile. The car was designed by Henrik Fisker back before he was mired in the ongoing problems of running a green car start-up. Say what you want about the Karma, the man can pen a nice vehicle.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood hasn't hidden the fact that he doesn't like in-vehicle distractions. Unfortunately, you'd never know LaHood doesn't like in-vehicle distractions based upon the toothless guidelines the Department of Transportation issued earlier this month.

The new guidelines, which were released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are voluntary standards for automakers. The guidelines lay out some types of in-vehicle electronics that the Department says should be disabled while the vehicle is in motion. Those things include visual text messaging, visual manual Internet browsing, visual manual social networking and displays of more than 30 characters of text unrelated to driving. The department says those features should only be active when the car is in park or for the passenger only with no driver visibility.

Apparently Chevy had stopped production of the Volt plug-in hybrid back around the holidays. You probably didn't notice since you weren't shopping for a Volt. Neither were many of your fellow Americans. And we're guessing those Chevy dealers that actually wanted to stock Volts had plenty on hand. Production was stopped for over a month and resumed earlier in February.

The Detroit News reports that GM resumed production of the Volt on February 6. Chevy stopped production for the holiday break.